Custom Website Design News

There are many benefits to affiliate marketing. The first being that it is low risk but can give high returns. The investment is typically low since you will not have the inventory that a normal business has. Normal costs are the cost to set up your own website and to promote your sponsor’s products and your website. Because you don’t have inventory you remove the worry about unsold inventory and returns. All you have to worry about is promoting to your targeted market and cash in the commission checks.

Another benefit to affiliate marketing is the freedom to work when you want and as hard as you want since you are the boss. Your affiliate business will grow at the pace you want it to. You can promote as much or as little as you want. If you just want to keep your business as a supplementary income, you can slow the pace and just collect a small check. However if you want to earn a good living and replace your current income then you can do this as well. It is all up to you.

To learn more about affiliate marketing and how your business can benefit from it visit us at www.iconwebsitedesign.com. Icon Website Design has experts in affiliate marketing and the connections to get your business where you want it to be.

“How To Drive Targeted Traffic To Your Website” by Seth Rand

In order for a website to be successful, you need to have people visiting it, which is often known as website traffic. Of course, we are not just looking for website traffic. We are looking for targeted traffic to our website. Targeted traffic is defined as unique visitors to your website that are interested in the products and/or services being offered on your website, so that they have the potential of turning into a customer and/or client. The more targeted the traffic is, the higher conversion rate that you will have. Generally, the higher conversion rate that you have, the lower your cost per conversion (CPA) will be. 

Now the question is, how do we get targeted traffic to our website in a cost effective way, so that we can potentially have a positive ROI (return on investment)? These are some of options:1. Search Engine Marketing - The # 1 search of targeted traffic on the internet is search engine marketing. This includes the major search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN, as well as the less used search engines, such as Ask, Altavista, AllTheWeb, HotBot, and Lycos. Because the person is searching for a keyword related to the products and/or services that your website offers, that means that there is a strong possibility that they will be the targeted traffic that you are seeking. The two primary ways of accomplishing this is generating organic targeted traffic through search engine optimization, or through pay per click marketing in the sponsored link area of the search engines.

  a. Search Engine Optimization - search engine optimization is the process of getting your web site in the top organic search engine results in the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and MSN, in addition to Ask, Altavista, AllTheWeb, HotBot, and Lycos, for your website’s main target keywords and keyword phrases. This is often the most cost effective way to drive targeted traffic your website on a long term basis. For more info on available search engine optimization packages, visit http://www.iconwebsitedesign.com/.  

  b. Pay Per Click Marketing - You can get targeted traffic to your website immediately though platforms such as Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter. The ads can be in contextual ads, banner ads, or video ads. Pay per click marketing campaigns are highly customizable campaign, based on keywords, geotargeted area, date and time, maximum cost per click, and maximum daily budget.

2. CPM Marketing - this includes banner advertising, email marketing, text message marketing, fax marketing, and are usually paid for on a CPM (cost per thousand) impressions basis. These methods can be successful if done multiple times to the same market, but are often less cost effective than search engine marketing.

3. Social Media Marketing - This is the newest form of internet marketing. It involved using free accounts on high traffic websites, including social networking sites, social bookmarking websites, blogs, and forums, such as MySpace, FaceBook, Linkedin, YouTube and Digg. It can be very labor intensive if done correctly, but with little to no out-of-pocket expense.  

4. Affiliate Marketing - this can including online affiliates through major networks including Commission Junction and Linkshare, or real affiliate relationships tat extend beyond the internet.

5. Media Advertising - this including TV and Radio advertising. Media advertising can either be for branding purposes or for direct marketing purposes. If it is driving targeted traffic to your website, it would be considered direct marketing. 

6. Print Marketing - this can including direct mail campaign, utilizing door hangers, passing our flyers, newspaper advertising, and/or magazine advertising. For your graphic design and printing needs, I recommend Preferred Print.

In summary, there are many marketing options to drive targeted traffic to your website, however search engine marketing may be the most cost effective way.

Seth can be reached at seth@iconpress.com with any questions or comments related to this article, or for a free quote on any of your graphic design, printing, website design, and/or internet marketing implementation or consultation needs.

Icon Website Design is proud to annouce that we are now approved online affiliates for the following companies: American Express, Apple, AT&T, Health Benefits Direct, McAfee, Microsoft, Toshiba and more. To view all of our online affiliates, please visit http://www.iconwebsitedesign.com/affiliates.html.